How to Plan an Office Move

There are many reasons to move office - perhaps you found a better offer, or your business is expanding. After finding a new office space, you’ll have a lot of preparation and planning to tackle, which will include communicating with your team and forming processes for the move. If your office move is getting on top of you, continue reading below. Phase 1 The first stage kicks off more than six months before the move because there’s plenty to be done. You will need somewhere quiet to plan the move, so pick a place and store all move-related documents there. After any board members, employees need to be told about the move, so hold a meeting and communicate details effectively. During the weeks following the announcement, take time to talk to your staff and receive feedback and answer questions. You can use this opportunity to set up a dedicated “moving questions” email address, which won’t congest your standard business email address. Before moving onto phase two, you need to set a budget for the move. Then, you should audit all company equipment and work out if you need anything new. Documenting equipment will help you account for everything post-move. Phase 2 You will need to put a team together for packing up the office and transporting everything over. We suggest using an all- in-one transit business, which will make tracking the move much easier. After your office has been cleared, you should hire a professional cleaning service to leave everything sparkling for the next occupants. Before handing your keys over, do one final walk around to make sure no business assets get left behind - you don’t want to accidentally breach confidentiality agreements. If you’ve followed the steps in phase one, you will likely have less equipment to transport, which means you can downsize the load and pay less. Before skipping any items, you should hold an office warehouse sale, which may help you pay for the move. Finally, before you make the move, you need to make sure any post arrives at the new office. We suggest heading to https://physicaladdress.com/mailbox- forwarding/ and making the most of their mail forwarding service. Their affordable package will forward all mail and let you access the mail online, which is handy if you’ve got a wait between moving out and moving in dates. Phase 3 Now is the time to organize the new office. Decide on an office layout and label the room, which will help people put equipment and files in the right area. You should hold another meeting to touch base with your employees again and answer any questions; use this opportunity to outline any new workflows. Once you’ve made the move, you should celebrate by throwing a staff party to thank them for their hard work and flexibility. Moving offices can be challenging, especially if you assume it’s easy. Start planning at least six months before the moving date, get all staff on board, and start creating lists for everything that needs to be moved.